Balto (film)
| music = James Horner | cinematography = Jan Richter-Friis | editing = Renee Edwards Nick Fletcher Sim Evan-Jones | studio = | distributor = Warner Bros. (North America) Universal Pictures (International) | released = | runtime = 77 minutes | country = United States United Kingdom | language = English | budget = $31 million | gross = $11.3 million . }} Balto is a 1995 American live-action/animated epic drama adventure film directed by Simon Wells, produced by Amblin Entertainment and Dino De Laurentiis Company and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures under the Warner Bros. Family Entertainment label in North America and Universal Pictures in International. The film is loosely based on a true story about the dog of the same name who helped save children from the diphtheria epidemic in the 1925 serum run to Nome. The live-action portions of the film were shot at Central Park in New York City. The film was the third and final animated feature produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio. Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy and Bonne Radford acted as executive producers on the film. Although the film's theatrical run was overshadowed by the success of the competing Disney•Pixar film Toy Story, its subsequent strong sales on home video led to two direct-to-video sequels: Balto II: Wolf Quest (2002) and Balto III: Wings of Change (2004) though none of the voice cast reprised their roles. Plot The film's prologue is set in New York City in the Fall of 1995. An elderly woman (Miriam Margolyes), her granddaughter (Lola Bates-Campbell) and her granddaughter's Siberian Husky, Blaze, are walking through Central Park, looking for a memorial statue. As they seat themselves for a rest, the woman tells her granddaughter a story of the 1925 serum run to Nome, shifting the film from live-action to animation. The story goes back to the winter of 1925 in Nome, Alaska. Balto (Kevin Bacon), a young wolfdog, lives in an abandoned ship on the outskirts of Nome with his adoptive father, a Russian snow goose named Boris (Bob Hoskins) and two polar bears, Muk and Luk (Phil Collins and Kevin Michael Richardson). Being half-wolf, Balto is shunned by dogs and the townspeople alike. His only friends in town are a red husky named Jenna (Bridget Fonda) and her owner, Rosy (Juliette Brewer). He is constantly bullied by champion sled dog, Steele (Kiefer Sutherland), a fierce and arrogant Alaskan Malamute with whom he competes for Jenna's attention. The evening after the annual dog race, 18 children, including Rosy, fall ill with diphtheria, and Curtis Welch, the town's only doctor, is out of antitoxin. The local telegraph operator relays an urgent telegram to Juneau, where the territory governor orders a large box of antitoxin to be sent to Nome. However, severe winter weather conditions prevent medicine from being brought by sea or air and the closest Alaska Railroad line from Juneau ends at Nenana, over 600 miles east of Nome. Two days later, a dog race is held to determine the best-fit dogs for a sled dog team to get the medicine. Balto enters and wins, but is rejected by the musher after Steele stomps on Balto's paw to induce a growl from him. The team departs that night with Steele in the lead and successfully picks up the medicine from the Nenana Depot, but on the way back, they forget which way they came and end up stranded at the base of a steep mountainside slope, disoriented, with their musher knocked unconscious. The next day, when word reaches Nome that the sled team is off the trail, the town prepares for the worst. Balto, wanting to help Rosy get better, sets out in search of the team, along with Boris, Muk and Luk. On the way, they are ambushed by a giant grizzly bear, but Jenna, who followed their mark tracks, intervenes. The bear pursues Balto out onto a frozen lake, where it falls through the ice and drowns, while Muk and Luk dive in to save Balto from a similar fate. Jenna is injured while fighting the bear and cannot continue, so Balto instructs Boris and the polar bears to take her back home while he continues on alone. Jenna gives Balto her bandanna to wear, and Boris gives him advice that "a dog cannot make this journey alone... but maybe a wolf can." That evening, Balto, marking his trail by clawing trees, finds the team and offers to guide them home, but Steele, out of callousness, refuses to accept help and repeatedly attacks Balto, only to fall off a cliff, but survive. Horrified by Steele's antics, the team promptly begins respecting Balto and declares him their new lead dog. Balto then proceeds to guide the team back to Nome, but Steele spitefully camouflages Balto's marks with fake ones, and the team loses their way again. As a result, Balto gets scared, panics and runs too fast, causing the medicine to fall over a cliff. While trying to save the medicine from falling, Balto himself falls. Back in Nome, Jenna is explaining Balto's mission to the other dogs, but they don't believe her. Just then, Steele returns and lies, claiming Balto and the team are dead, using Jenna's bandanna (which he ripped off Balto's neck during the fight) as supposed proof. However, Jenna sees through his lies and insists that Balto is coming home with the medicine. Using a trick Balto showed her earlier, Jenna places broken colored glass bottles on the outskirts of town and shines a lantern on them to simulate an illusion of the Northern Lights, hoping it will help guide Balto home. The next morning, Balto regains consciousness and falls into despair, but after a white wolf appears and Balto notices the medicine still unharmed nearby, he remembers Boris's advice and realizes that being part-wolf does not weaken him, but strengthens him. Finally accepting his wolf half, Balto regains his confidence, and rallying all of his bodily strength, he drags the medicine all the way back up the cliff to the waiting team, impressing them. Through his highly developed senses of smell, Balto is able to filter out the fake marks Steele made. After overcoming further obstacles, such as a treacherous ice bridge, an avalanche and losing only one vial in a cave full of unstable stalactites, Balto and the sled team finally make it back to Nome that night. As a result of Balto's return with the medicine, Steele is exposed as a liar, and the other dogs, realizing Jenna was right all along, angrily abandon Steele, ruining his reputation and shattering his pride. Reunited with Jenna, Boris, Muk and Luk, Balto is hailed as a hero by the other dogs and the townspeople. He visits a cured Rosy, who thanks him for saving her life. On the sidelines, as sled teammates Nikki, Kaltag and Star (Jack Angel, Danny Mann and Robbie Rist) congratulate Balto, Star comments that a memorial statue should be built in Balto's honor, which Kaltag agrees with (rather than smack Star in the head for interrupting, as Kaltag spent the entire film doing). The extended and animated flashback ends, and the film shifts back to live-action. Back in the present day, the elderly woman, her granddaughter and Blaze finally find Balto's memorial, and she explains that even to the present day, Alaska runs the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race over the same path that Balto and his team took from Nenana to Nome. When asked by her granddaughter if Blaze can follow in Balto's footsteps, the woman replies that if Blaze practices a lot, it is possible that he can. The woman is then revealed to be an older Rosy when she repeats the same line, "Thank you, Balto. I would've been lost without you," before walking off to join her granddaughter and Blaze. The film ends with Balto's statue standing proudly in the sunlight. Cast and characters *Kevin Bacon as Balto, a young adult male wolfdog; being half-husky and half-wolf. Jeffrey James Varab and Dick Zondag served as the supervising animators for Balto. *Bob Hoskins as Boris, a Russian snow goose and Balto's caretaker and sidekick. Kristof Serrand served as the supervising animator for Boris. *Bridget Fonda as Jenna, a female Husky and Rosy's pet as well as Balto's love interest. Robert Stevenhagen served as the supervising animator for Jenna. *Juliette Brewer as Rosy, Jenna's owner and a kind, excitable girl who was the only human in Nome who is kind to Balto. She falls ill along with the other children in town, but Balto brings the medicine to save their lives. David Bowers served as the supervising animator for Rosy. **Miriam Margolyes as old Rosy in the live-action sequences who tells her story to her granddaughter. *Kiefer Sutherland as Steele, an Alaskan Malamute and Balto's rival who also has a crush on Jenna. Sahin Ersöz served as the supervising animator for Steele. *Phil Collins and Kevin Michael Richardson as Muk and Luk, a pair of polar bear cubs. Nicolas Marlet served as the supervising animator for Muk and Luk. *LeVar Burton, Neal McDonough and Robbie Rist as Nikki, Kaltag and Star (respectively), the three prominent members of Steele's team. William Salazar served as the supervising animator for the team. *Sandra Dickinson as Dixie, a female Pomeranian and one of Jenna's friends who adores Steele until his lies are exposed. *Helena Bonham Carter as Sylvie, a female Afghan Hound who is also Jenna's friend. **Patrick Mate served as the supervising animator for Sylvie and Dixie. *Lola Bates-Campbell as Rosy's unnamed granddaughter, who appears in the live-action sequences and is accompanied by her dog Blaze, a purebred Siberian Husky. *Alfre Woodard as Rosy's mother *William Roberts as Rosy's father *Jonathan Frakes as Curtis Welch, the doctor *Bill Bailey as a butcher *Garrick Hagon as a telegraph operator *Additional Voices were provided by Michael McShane, Michael McConnohie, Sparky Thornton, Frank Welker, Christine Cavanaugh, Jim Carter, Townsend Coleman, Corey Burton, Gregg Berger, Patricia Parris, Austin Tichenor, Mary Kay Bergman, Russi Taylor and Rob Paulsen Production Balto was recorded in Fall 1994 at Universal Cartoon Studios (now Universal Animation Studios) in Glendale, CA. The animation was done overseas by Amblimation in London, England. The live-action prologue and epilogue segments were filmed in Central Park. The role as elderly Rosy's granddaughter's husky, Blaze was played by two light copper and white blue-eyed Siberian Huskies. Historical differences *The film portrays Balto (1919-March 1933) as a brown-and-gray wolfdog. In real life, Balto was a purebred Siberian Husky and was black and white in color. Balto's colors changed to brown due to light exposure whilst on display in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The makers of the film may have chosen to differentiate Balto from the other prominent sled dog of the movie, Steele, who also had a black-and-white coat. *In real life, the sled run to retrieve the medicine was actually a relay. Instead of being the leader of the first and only team, Balto was the leader of the 20th and last team to carry the medicine to Nome. The longest and most hazardous distance was traveled by the 18th and third-to-last team, which was led by Togo. *In the film, the reason why Dr. Curtis Welch orders the medicine to be sent to Nome is because his supply has completely run out. In real life, the reason was that his entire batch was past its expiration date and no longer had any effect. *In the film, the medicine is shipped to Nenana from the Alaskan capital of Juneau, but in real life, it was shipped from Anchorage, 800 miles southeast of Nome. *The medicine was transported in a 300,000 unit cylinder. In the film, it is transported in a large square crate. *In the film, the only residents of Nome who contract diphtheria are 18 children, but in real life, many more were infected, including adults. *In the sequels, Balto became a proud father with Jenna and they had a litter of puppies who grew up and moved on with their lives, but in real life, Balto was neutered at 3 months of age, and thus, he never sired a litter. *In real life, the dogs never drove the medicine by themselves, because none of the mushers were ever knocked unconscious. *Balto was never an outcast street dog as shown by the film, but was instead born in a kennel owned by the famous musher and breeder Leonhard Seppala, who raised and trained him until Balto was deemed fit for pulling a sled as the lead dog. Seppala was also the owner of Togo (1913-1929), whom he personally used to lead his dog team during the relay. Balto was used to lead the team driven by one of Seppala's workers, Gunnar Kaasen. *In the sequels, Balto continued living in Nome along with his family and friends (the events of the third film happened in 1928), but in real life, Balto and his team were sent to the Brookside Zoo (now the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo) in 1927 where they spent their last years. Balto rested there until his death on March 14, 1933 at the age of 14. After he died, his body was taxidermied and kept in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where it remains today. Release The film was theatrically released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures under the Warner Bros. Family Entertainment label on December 22, 1995 and then international theatres by Universal Pictures on January 13, 1996 when it first premiered in Brazil. Its release was vastly overshadowed by the performance of Disney•Pixar's Toy Story, which premiered a month earlier. Box office The film ranked 15th on its opening weekend and earned $1.5 million from a total of 1,427 theaters. The film also ranked 7th among G-rated movies in 1995. Total domestic gross reach up to $11,348,324. While the film was the biggest box office disaster of the year, it was far more successful in terms of video sales. These strong video sales led to the release of two direct-to-video sequels: Balto II: Wolf Quest and Balto III: Wings of Change being created, though neither sequel received as strong a reception as the original film. Critical reception The film received mixed reviews upon release. According to review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 54% rating based on 24 reviews. The critical consensus reads, "Balto is a well-meaning adventure with spirited animation, but mushy sentimentality and bland characterization keeps it at paw's length from more sophisticated family fare." Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, describing the film as "a kids' movie, simply told, with lots of excitement and characters you can care about" and praised every thrilling scene. Home media Balto released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1996 by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment in North America and internationally, and CIC Video in the UK. The VHS version was made available once more on 1998, under the Universal Bros. Family Entertainment Century Collection label. The film has released on DVD in February 19, 2002, which includes a game, "Where is the Dog Sled Team". This version was reprinted along with other Universal films such as An American Tail, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West and The Land Before Time. It was released in widescreen on Blu-ray for the first time on July 4, 2017, which included a digital HD and UltraViolet copy. Soundtrack | length = 54:30 | label = Universal | producer = | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = | next_year = }} }} ''Balto: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack '' is the soundtrack of the film, composed by James Horner. Track listing Sequels Two fictional direct-to-video sequels of the film followed, made by the Warner Bros. Animation Universal Cartoon Studios with their animation done overseas by the Taiwanese studio Wang Film Productions, as Amblimation, which did the animation for the original film, had gone out of business. Due to the sequels being completely fictional, Kevin Bacon, Bob Hoskins, Bridget Fonda, and Phil Collins did not reprise their roles in either of the sequels except Kevin Michael Richardson who did reprise the role as Luk. Instead, Bacon was replaced by Maurice LaMarche as the voice of Balto, Hoskins was replaced by Charles Fleischer as the voice of Boris, Fonda was replaced by Jodi Benson as the voice of Jenna, and Collins was replaced by Kevin Schon as the voice of Muk. Futhermore, numerous supporting characters from the original (such as Nikki, Kaltag and Star) did not reappear in the sequels for unknown reasons (possibly because they were either written out or the writers simply forgot about their existence). The first sequel, Balto II: Wolf Quest, was released in 2002 and follows the adventures of one of Balto and Jenna's pups, Aleu, who sets off to discover her wolf heritage. The second, Balto III: Wings of Change was released in 2005. The storyline follows the same litter of pups from Balto II but focuses on Kodi as part of a U.S. Mail dog sled delivery team. Unlike the original, neither sequels took any historical references from the true story of Balto. References External links *Balto: Universal Studios – Restored version of the original 1995 official Balto site. * *[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/balto/ Balto] at Rotten Tomatoes * * *[https://web.archive.org/web/20170919230136/http://www.keyframeonline.com/Animation/Balto/27/ Balto] – Keyframe – the Animation Resource Category:1995 films Category:1995 animated films Category:1990s adventure films Category:1990s historical films Category:1990s American animated films Category:Amblin Entertainment animated films Category:American adventure drama films Category:American animated films Category:American children's animated adventure films Category:American children's drama films Category:American films Category:Animated films about animals Category:Animated films about dogs Category:Animated adventure films Category:Animated drama films Category:Balto (film) Category:English-language films Category:Film scores by James Horner Category:Films directed by Simon Wells Category:Films featuring anthropomorphic characters Category:Films set in 1925 Category:Animated films about wolves Category:Films set in Alaska Category:Films set in New York City Category:Films with live action and animation Category:Mushing films Category:Northern films Category:Universal Pictures animated films Category:Universal Pictures films Category:Warner Bros. Animation animated films Category:Warner Bros. animated films Category:Films produced by Dino De Laurentiis Category:Films produced by Martha De Laurentiis Category:Films produced by Kathleen Kennedy Category:Films produced by Frank Marshall Category:Films produced by David Kirschner Category:Warner Bros. Family Entertainment films